Consumers are acquiring, viewing, and managing an increasing variety of digital media on devices in the consumer electronics (CE), personal computer (PC), and mobile domains. In addition, consumers want to easily and conveniently enjoy this content using any electronic devices located anywhere in the home. Such electronic devices may include music players, cameras, camcorders, DVD players, mobile phones, personal digital assistants (PDAs), and computers.
Wireless networks can include a wireless local area network (WLAN). A series of standards for wireless local area networks (WLANs) known as the IEEE 802.11 standards have been widely adopted and gained acceptance. In general, the IEEE 802.11 standard for WLANs is a standard for systems that operate in the 2,400-2,483.5 MHz band. It provides 1 to 2 Mbps transmission. The 802.11 RF transmissions use multiple signaling schemes (modulations) at different data rates to deliver a single data packet between wireless systems. The 802.11a standard is an extension to 802.11 that applies to wireless LANs and provides up to 54 Mbps in the 5 GHz band. The 802.11b standard (also referred to as 802.11 High Rate or Wi-Fi) is an extension to 802.11 that applies to wireless LANs and provides 11 Mbps transmission (with a fallback to 5.5, 2 and 1 Mbps) in the 2.4 GHz band. The 802.11g standard applies to wireless LANs and provides 20+Mbps in the 2.4 GHz band.
Wireless networks can also include the use of Bluetooth. Bluetooth is a global standard for wireless connectivity, which is based on a low-cost, short-range radio link. When two Bluetooth devices are within a range of ten meters, they can establish a connection together using a radio-based link. As an example, a laptop computer enabled with Bluetooth can send information to a printer in the next room, or a microwave oven can send a message to a mobile phone to announce that that a meal is ready. Bluetooth is becoming accepted as a standard in mobile phones, personal computers, laptops and other electronic devices that enables users to share information, synchronize data, access the Internet, integrate with local area networks or actuate electromechanical devices such as unlocking a car door.
The Digital Home Working Group (DHWG) was introduced in June 2003 as a cross-industry organization of leading consumer electronics, computing industry, and mobile device companies established to develop guidelines to provide CE, mobile, and PC vendors with information needed to build interoperable digital home platforms, devices, and applications. The DHWG defines implementation guidelines for digital home devices, which will be interconnected with IP networking technology.
Current proposals in the DHWG include multicast message filtering to block frequent Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) service announcements, in a logical bridging unit between the home network and a Bluetooth extension. As such, devices implementing Bluetooth are shielded from such messages, and are therefore able to enter a sleep state, which results in a long operating times of such battery powered devices. Nevertheless, as WLAN is an integral part of the non-battery powered stationary devices communications, WLAN devices are continuously disturbed with UPnP multicast messages and, therefore, are not be able to enter sleep states for longer periods.
U.S. Patent Application No. 2003/0236890 describes the use of different transport layers (e.g., Bluetooth and WLAN) for power saving reasons, but it does not describe use of Bluetooth as a control channel.
Thus, there is a need to have efficient sleep modes for WLAN devices in the home network. Further, there is a need to utilize Bluetooth and WLAN technologies to achieve high throughput while obtaining efficient modes, such as efficient sleep modes. Yet further, there is a need to use Bluetooth as a control channel while using WLAN for active state communications.